Orcs on the March thread

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

Originally Posted by ckdamascus

I suppose. I guess I hate the waiting afterwards. I can try it again, as this one saved game I have has tons of intellect!

But, for the hard battles, dealing 9-10K damage to every single stack still doesn't cut it.

Actually, my Warrior can win the Impossible Battles with smoother end game play, which is what made me so sad that mages couldn't do the smooth game play with no waiting! With the warrior, I would have to intentionally delay finishing the battle just so I can pick up the treasure chests.

I mean, put it this way. I've tried doing the Black Hole Blitz against Scrounger. Did NOT fare so well. Double Pump Geyser, no go either. Pygmy Black Hole... poo.

But, I didn't do the invisible trick though! If I do though, then the raw offense is merely just icing on the cake.

And any battle where the 9-10K damage per stack would have won the battle could have easily been replicated with the Warrior Ranged Army, with zero mana recovery required.

Doesn't sound like you're having much fun lol

Same. I'm finding using the Mage a real grind as direct magic damage isn't oo good atm

Thanks for all the info guys

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by Kings Bounty Hunter

Doesn't sound like you're having much fun lol

Same. I'm finding using the Mage a real grind as direct magic damage isn't oo good atm

Thanks for all the info guys

Actually it is really strange. The Mage Summoner build is surprisingly very smooth, in some ways more smooth than a Warrior.

If the enemy has any level 4s, I will almost definitely sheep most of them by the end of the battle. Dual Rune Mages blasting away, at 30% chance to sheep someone, it gets pretty bad for the enemy.

Also, this lets me
a) dig up 3 chests
b) use the 16 rage for 19 mana exchange
c) resurrect units at my leisure

If the enemy has level 5s, I have to blitz the living daylights out of them with my Summons and debuffs. Still doable. If there are dragons, I got the Shield of Reknos (AND there is an Eye of the Dragon, but alas, I can't go back to Debir, stupid quasi-speed runs).

Once the level 5s are down, or under control, I repeat the dig/mana restoration process.

Now, the Warrior builds I do, while they are DEADLY fast in raw combat, leaves far less margin for error.

The problem is, while I obliterate really fast, it leaves far less time to dig up chests and I almost always have to cast Phantom for the Royal Griffins, Turn Back Time, or some Debuff (Pygmy, Helplessness, or Plague!). If I have a breather, I can drop Dragon Dive, but I am almost always pumping the 25 for 25 mana accelerator.

Sometimes I will barely have enough mana to do the resurrection as needed. It really depends. As a mage, it is more of an inconvenience, since my Summoner Mage build almost ALWAYS has max mana after the battle.

See, the warrior can afford to start off with no mana, since Bloodthirst will give him enough rage to start the Mana Accelerator machine again.

That said, it is possible to do direct damage, but it usually requires a nifty trick like Invisible Emerald Green Dragon. Early on though, Black Dragons are great to run around while you do direct damage. I mutated this stategy to have a helpful friend, Ancient Phoenix and his side kick, Dragon fo Chaos though.

In the Wizard Tower, I did a lot of direct damage too. I'm not there with my Summon Army yet, but I don't think they will survive easily.

Oh, as an aside, unlike the Warrior, my particular Mage build seems verry weak against Archdemons.

I'm not looking forward to facing Samman and I ran from the Archdemon stacks in Montero's Caves.

Also, I haven't fought Scrounger in a while since I mentally hit a strange block where I immediately proceed to try to beat the game or give up on my current game due to repetition (or perceived failure in my battle plan). I don't think fighting her will be fun either.

[Minecontrol]

Have you considered Pain Mirror?

The percentage damage returned increases with intellect and (i think) is a low mana spell (10 points) Meaning with higher magic you could cast it twice.

Maybe try sending up a deliberately weak enemy beside the Orc Savages (Veterans) and watch them rip at them. It could be Thorn summons or something... Then painmirror the Orcs. It was a spell i found great use for in KBTL vanilla (against the undead general) i have yet to use it in this game but an ability to return in proportion to the enemy their damage is potentially very useful (especially against high attack enemies like Scrounger's veterans), it's a great equaliser.

In that battle i find if you can stop the brutal melee attackers (the two level 5 stacks and the Orc Veterans) and control the effects of the Gob Shamans, then that is what tips the tide.

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

Veteran orcs just ran around my trap lol jesus christ give me a break ha ha

direct line to my army and he does that as if he knew the trap was there!

Marvelous

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by Kings Bounty Hunter

Veteran orcs just ran around my trap lol jesus christ give me a break ha ha

direct line to my army and he does that as if he knew the trap was there!

Marvelous

They don't call them Veterans for nothing.

@Atlatea, so, I spent quite a few tries trying to win against Scrounger. Phantom Rune Mage Flood, Target + Battle Cry, I even "cheated" and used Black Knights too as my Target. Nothing was working. There was too many high profile stacks. Even if I managed to sheep the Goblin Shaman, the 47 Orc Chieftains and 47 Ogres would eventually run me over, and they were eyeing my Black Dragon in a really nasty way.

The Mega Summon Team was very strong, but it would eventually succumb to the overwhelming force.

I was lucky, as this time, there were no Orc Veterans, but the Ogre stack was larger and she sure had a LOT of pesky Goblin Shaman.

Then I remembered the last time I beat Scrounger, I had enough mana to use Black Hole at least once, this time I got a lot of GREAT items, so, why not?

I backtracked to beat the Nameless Island mission, got Black Hole.

Went all out with mana, using Wanderer Scrolls got 186 mana, much higher than what I had last time. Didn't bother with Destruction Level 3 though. Had about base 51 intellect, so 61 with a scroll.

Target Black Knights + Black Hole, bam, those pesky Ogre and Ogre Chieftain (oops, Orc Chieftain) were weakened as if hit by a low level Ball of Lightning. I even threw in a Ball of Lightning first by drinking a Potion of Rage ahead of time.

Next Round, Awaken Dragon (sniffles, raised it to level 3 and jacked up my Black Hole to level 3, now I have 4 crystals left, ), Ball of Lightning, then Black Hole AGAIN.

Once I had breathing room, I summoned up the usual Dragon of Chaos and Ancient Phoenix. Threw in one more Target, one EvilN, and a couple of heals.

I don't think I even used a Phantom Rune Mage for resurrection or Turn Back Time.

Seems like in conjunction with the strategies I used to beat Scrounger, Black Hole was the catalyst for victory.

I don't want to say it was "easy", as this game has a way of karmically biting me in the butt.

But, let's just say, I actually dug up all three treasure chests, ended up with 41 Rage and 127 Mana (out of 186). I definitely could have extended for max mana.

Black hole only did 4600-7600 damage, but the key was hurting the high profile units all together (Goblin Shaman: once Target ran out, or... let Goblin Shaman burn it away on Phantoms, Orc Chieftain would damage Rune Mages unless I used slow, Ogre would smash up things unless I stopped him).

When I tried to divide and conquer, Scrounger would merely Phantom up the other large stacks, even the sheeped stacks ala Rune Mages!

That said, I got Elkonium (the +30 mana) staff from the battle, but immediately afterwards, I got the legendary... Gloves of the Destroyer. Why? I dont' need two fo those darn things. Bleh. Bleh!!!!

I wonder if the game biases Scrounger's composite item based on class?

[ckdamascus]

So, I forgot I left two Gloves of the Destroyer on when I fought Samman. I still had all my nifty wanderer scroll buffs. Still only level 1 destruction.

You weren't kidding, atlatea.

Samman down in 3 rounds. He could not even get a single Armaggedon off.

[jake21]

So how many quests have people found? I seem to get exactly 92 everytime I play (steam version).

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by jake21

So how many quests have people found? I seem to get exactly 92 everytime I play (steam version).

Yeah, I got 92. Somehow, unicornxp got 93. I'm not sure where I am missing it.

[atlatea]

That's why i prefer destruction mage, to me it's more easier, and probably more powerful, though in term of power, i think both are very close.

But one thing i love about destruction mage is it is very no brainer, i mean you don't even need to think about tactis and strategies, the only thing you need to think is how to open your book spell and then search for your black hole and make sure your mouse is working and then click that black hole, then just enjoy your time.

Yes, 6k dmg black hole is more than enough, even in impossible difficulty.

I think that is an advantage, even if it is very hard to recognize.

You can also black hole spam caretaker last 2 floor, he will go down just as easy as scrounger.

I guess this is the way of mage (in impossible difficulty), early game you rely on buff, debuff, early to mid you add summon to them, then late game you use destruction spells then use summon to finish the leftovers.

So how many quests have people found? I seem to get exactly 92 everytime I play (steam version).

I also got 92 in all my games. I played the retail version. I don't know how to get 93 quests.